Angela Liou is a physician-scientist focused on understanding the origins of pediatric cancers of the brain and central nervous system (CNS). She divides her time between working in the lab of Peter Adams, PhD, at Sanford Burnham Prebys and treating young patients at Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego.
“I’m motivated by my passion for cancer research, my drive to improve care for my patients and the dismal prognosis of most malignant brain tumors despite advances in cancer treatment. I have taken care of many children who have died from CNS tumors and each child instilled in me an urgency to find effective therapies.”
Liou, who pursued her undergraduate studies at UC Berkeley and attended medical school at Duke University, became interested in cancer research and care after her father died from pancreatic cancer, among the most lethal of malignancies.
That and subsequent work, primarily in the lab of Thomas De Raedt, MSE, PhD, a research scientist and assistant professor of pediatrics at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Research Institute, eventually led her to study the relationship between epigenomic dysregulation and the cause of pediatric brain tumors.
Prior to Sanford Burnham Prebys, Liou specialized in pediatric oncology and hematology at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. She was also an instructor in pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine and a resident physician in pediatrics at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital in San Francisco.
Specifically, Liou is investigating key mutations in diffuse midline gliomas (an aggressive type of brain tumor) that appear to drive oncogenesis — the process through which healthy cells transform into cancer cells — and whether these mutations present attractive therapeutic targets.